Mellifera Pendragon
Mellifera Pendragon '''(ぺンドラゴン・メリフェラ, ''Pendoragon 'Merifera), often called Mel, is the navigator and first Knight of the Checkmate Pirates. She ate the Mushi Mushi no Mi, Model: Bee, which allows her to turn into a swarm of bees and a bee-human hybrid. She is also Arthur's older sister. Appearance In her normal form, Mel looks entirely human. She has black hair with several streaks of gold, and golden eyes. There are also two small black "ahoge" locks of hair sticking outward like antennae. Although her eyes and hair are a little strange and can be dizzying after prolonged exposure, she's very cute and innocuous-looking. She's a good height and very thin. Perhaps due to adopting the powers of an insect, her body is somewhat segmented looking. She has quite a sizable bust, a thin waist, and decently wide hips tapering to thin legs to give her lower body the general design of an abdomen. She wears quite revealing clothing such as a low cut blouse to show off her cleavage, and short shorts for her legs. She is able to keep a very thin figure despite all the sugary foods that she eats because the majority of the sugar is used in making the honey and propolis that her swarm form uses, while the rapid movement and vibrations of her hybrid form burn away any excess fat around her waist. Personality Charming and bubbly, Mel is pleasantly social and enjoys luxury and the fine things in life. She's one of the oldest members of the crew, but she prefers to leave the worrying and difficulties of mature life to the more "stick-in-the-mud" members like Faust and Lucia. She has the tendency to be temperamental with a queen bee mentality, and is upset that her own little brother Arthur decided not to call her the Queen of the chess piece themed pirates. Still, she sulks in no time at all and makes the best of what she's given. She's very proud of her abilities, but not without reason. She's probably the strongest individual member of the Checkmate Pirates. Though she's a strong fighter, she prefers to let the easily influenced younger members to do work for her, pursuing more self-driven goals like finding sweets and flirting. She's a very flirtatious person, often making advances to any eligible man who passes her decidedly lax criteria. She's the type to often drop small things in order that she can then pick them up, better showing off her body regardless of which way she's facing. She's quite shameless on the topic of her body or intimacy, and freely converses about such topics if she feels like her company won't crash down on her for doing so. Despite her rather selfish qualities and being a bit of a floozy, she is protective of her little brother and the whole rest of the crew, frustrated when he gets into trouble but always doing her best to help him out. Relationships Crew Like the rest of the crew, Mel is very friendly toward them all and as one of the older members she acts as a sort of mother figure to them, especially the young ones like Shiro and Kuro. The one thing she's regretful about is that there are no handsome, manly men on the crew, much to her disappointment. Arthur Mellifera is the only member of the crew Arthur has known since his youth, as she is his older sister. She is very caring and protective of her little brother, though she knows (and delights in the fact) that it annoys him. She tends to treat Arthur's exploits as though he's playing a pirate game, even though she's well aware of the effort and dangers he puts himself in through the adventure. She tells him to call her "nee-chan" or "onee-san," though he resorts to the more crass "aneki". Abilities In her youth Mel had extensively researched navigational skills necessary for any decently functioning sailing vessel. Through plenty of past research Mel has become a very proficient navigator, capable of sailing any of the four Blues with relative ease and even becoming able to take on the challenge of the Grand Line. Arthur respects this talent of hers, and requested that she be the navigator on his ship. Since she consumed her Devil Fruit, her animal senses as a bee give her an excellent sense of direction and she is able to triangulate her position and that of a past or supposed future location using the sun. Devil Fruit Mellifera ate the Mushi Mushi no Mi, Model: Bee. This gives her the power to transform into a bee-human hybrid and a swarm of bees. In her transformed form, she is starkly different. For one, her clothes seem to fuse into her, the stripe patterns forming the stripes on her skin. Her skin becomes a darker golden color, and her eyes case over with compound panels, though they function more like goggles. She becomes a little taller, and also grows a pair of thin wings, which can use to accelerate herself and fly to a limited degree. She gains a mainly cosmetic abdomen sprouting from the small of her back, which doesn't seem to have much practical use. On her right arm, a pocket houses a long, extendable stinger which acts like a sword. It's not as strong as a steel sword, but by vibrating her wings and body quickly she can amplify its power to saw through hard materials. She can also dissolve into a swarm of bees, although only the single queen bee of the hive is her. The rest vanish when hit or when she returns to a more humanoid form. Each bee is armed with a powerful stinger and mild venom, non-lethal but painful. In all forms, she can use pheromones to entice and manipulate her target's emotions. Following the temporary disbandment of the Checkmate Pirates where each member engaged in individual training, Mel was trained by and on-and-off dated a handsome martial artist. Mel's flirtatious nature played off of his so that the two were insufferable, and most of their training took place when they would spar for dominance in the relationship. The martial artist had a long-standing policy of not striking women, but Mel made it clear early on that she was more than capable of sparring without being hurt. She was instructed in more advanced aerial tactics in using her wings to maneuver deftly, and the rest of her body has been powered up to being able to strike with her limbs to supplement her swordsmanship, but most impressive is her new capability to vibrate her sword into a burning blade which leaves red streaks across the sky and chars whatever it cuts into. History Formation of the Checkmate Pirates: The Checkmate Pirates came together on Hayward D. Rockefeller's home island of Deepwater Island. She arrived on the island along with her brother Arthur only a week or so after they had set out on their adventure together. They were split up quickly on the island due to Arthur's interest in the sounds of music coming from the village. Arthur got to the source, but switched places with Mel so she could be there too. He was then captured before he had the chance to return. Mel remained in the town square, entertained by the sounds from Hina's band on minstrels. Hina called after her when the music was done, taking an immediate liking to the older girl. The pair went up to the castle where Hina would play later that day for the World Noble, but when Hina ran off to see the rest of her group Mel was found and arrested by the same guards who had taken Arthur. Taken to the holding cell, the pair waited for a long while until following an explosion, Lucia and Hina arrived to free them. Mel carried Lucia up to the roof, and after some instructions from Arthur Mel distracted Hayward by flying around him quickly, slashing against his geysers of oil and flying quickly enough to create a vortex, drawing him into the air and limiting his control of his own oil on the ground. After Hayward had been subdued, she followed the rest of the group toward the beach and fought off the attacks of Vice Admiral Bartleby before going with the others to reach the Marine ship. After Faust revealed the Admiral's orders, Mel flew to the World Noble's ship to alert Arthur, and returned in a panic with him in critical condition, though Faust was able to rescue him. At the end of it all, she and the rest of the crew gathered around to celebrate their crew's formation, and she was dubbed a Knight of the Checkmate Pirates. Extra Art mel head.jpg|Mel Headshot. Doesn't she look cute?! Credit to Aquatic_Kimothy. tumblr_lq4fs5KtOA1qlwq3ao1_500.jpg|Mellifera Pendragon: Take One! Credit to Aquatic_Kimothy. Trivia *Mellifera's name comes from Mellifera, the genus name for the common honeybee. Her surname is the same as her brother's, naturally. *Mellifera, despite what her aloof nature might suggest, is quite punctual. She wakes up and goes to sleep at nearly the exact same time every day, and dislikes arriving anywhere too early or too late. *Mellifera's favorite food is anything intensely sweet, especially honey and pure sugar. Her least favorite food is pasta. *Mellifera Pendragon (the character) was created by me, Nettlekid. *The excellent original drawing of Mellifera Pendragon was done by Aquatic_Kimothy. Category:Checkmate Pirates Category:Devil Fruit Users Category:Characters Category:Swordswomen Category:Navigators Category:Pirates Category:Female